No earth shattering news to report. Things remain on the status quo.
Yesterday, I was having a dead foot. I can always tell when one day is a little worse than the others by how I walk. Sometimes, after I push off, my foot just decides it's going to drop. Mostly I just end up dragging my toe, but yesterday, I almost did a gainer. I saved it, so no falling but ESPN plays of the week it was not.
I decided to put laminate flooring in one of the rooms of my house. 60 square feet. Under normal circumstances, it probably should have only taken a couple of hours to lay it down. Given that the MS affects mostly my legs, it took twice that. I emptied out the room, cleaned the bare floor and laid down about half before my legs started to fail me. After a 30 minute break, I was ready to go, did a couple more rows and needed another break. After I finally finished, there wasn't enough strength in my legs to take everything back in and it wasn't a lot. After a couple hours, I was able to move everything back in.
One unforeseen circumstance is that all the sawing and hammering freaked my scaredy cat cat. The front half of the house is carpet and the back half is tile and now laminate. Their food and litter box is in the back half. After all that, she wouldn't get off the carpet and has been totally frightened of everything in the house. It's been a slow progression of getting her back to the back of the house. My male Maine Coon was totally unaffected by it all and as typical of Maine Coons offered his "help" by laying where ever I needed to be. He seems to love the floor because he runs full tilt and then does a 180 spin. Crazy cats.
I saw an article on a dietary supplement called Prevagen. It contains some protein harvested from jellyfish called aequorin. It's supposed to slow the progression of aging of brain cells and help memory and cognitive function. It also has some affect on neurological diseases. Always leery of naturalist medicine, I took to the Internet for some research. Bottom line, it doesn't do crap for memory, but there may be some benefit for neurological diseases. So I thought I would try it. After a couple days, it seemed that the tingles I had throughout my legs was a little less. Or it could be psychosomatic. Regardless, there was a difference. It probably doesn't really work, but I though I would try it for a couple months and see.
05 June 2010
27 April 2010
Ooops, forgot to write
I kept meaning to write, but alas, I kept forgetting to. It's not like there was anything to really update however.
I had a check-up in March and my worries about a relapse turned false. I was just really tired from a back-to-back cold. Chest cold that turned into a head cold. Two weeks of fighting of a cold took it out of me. As apposed to last year wear I had a cold every other week. That was because of the Rebif and being on it for over a year. The check-up went fine. I finally sucked up my pride and asked for a doctor's note so I could wear running shoes to work instead of somewhat dress shoes for business casual. Since I had those two relapses one right after the other over a year ago, anything other than athletic shoes feels like I'm wearing barbed wire. But working for a corporation means that nobody can make a decision no matter how mundane it is without CYA. If I didn't have to work to have health insurance I would have quit a while ago.
I took a week off work to recharge the batteries since it was desperately needed. I packed up the HUMMER and went to Louisiana. Nine hour driving trip sucks under the best of circumstances. Nine hour trip on two hours of sleep. . . Stupid MS and those middle of the night bathroom calls. I woke up with that urgent need and couldn't get back to sleep after that, so three in the morning, I left. Nine hour drive is long, nine hour drive with a six pound cat on you lap for most of the trip kills the legs. It was all worth it because that night we ordered 60 pounds of crayfish. They were so good, my lips were still number from the spices four hours after I got done eating.
Not much else happened since then. I did wake up this morning with hardly any tingles in my legs and feet and there was barely any spasticity in my legs. It lasted for most of the day. It was good feeling, albeit short lived.
I had a check-up in March and my worries about a relapse turned false. I was just really tired from a back-to-back cold. Chest cold that turned into a head cold. Two weeks of fighting of a cold took it out of me. As apposed to last year wear I had a cold every other week. That was because of the Rebif and being on it for over a year. The check-up went fine. I finally sucked up my pride and asked for a doctor's note so I could wear running shoes to work instead of somewhat dress shoes for business casual. Since I had those two relapses one right after the other over a year ago, anything other than athletic shoes feels like I'm wearing barbed wire. But working for a corporation means that nobody can make a decision no matter how mundane it is without CYA. If I didn't have to work to have health insurance I would have quit a while ago.
I took a week off work to recharge the batteries since it was desperately needed. I packed up the HUMMER and went to Louisiana. Nine hour driving trip sucks under the best of circumstances. Nine hour trip on two hours of sleep. . . Stupid MS and those middle of the night bathroom calls. I woke up with that urgent need and couldn't get back to sleep after that, so three in the morning, I left. Nine hour drive is long, nine hour drive with a six pound cat on you lap for most of the trip kills the legs. It was all worth it because that night we ordered 60 pounds of crayfish. They were so good, my lips were still number from the spices four hours after I got done eating.
Not much else happened since then. I did wake up this morning with hardly any tingles in my legs and feet and there was barely any spasticity in my legs. It lasted for most of the day. It was good feeling, albeit short lived.
20 February 2010
Winter Sucks
The title says it all.
Being a Summer child, winter always blows. The great thing about volleyball is that the tournaments start amping up in January and end in April. Usually by March though, I was ready to hit the sand. But it got me through. Then there was snowboarding, but I didn't do a lot of it since I moved back from college. Maybe once or twice a season. Now though . . . I still haven't adapted to this new life.
I still have that feeling that every day I work is a day wasted. After a while, they all blend together. I've been working since I was 13 and have never really liked to work. It's not that I'm lazy, it's just that my time is my own. Working for family inflates that belief. I was working, but it was still essentially for myself. The fact that I was transplanted in to "Office Space" certainly helps to exaggerate everything.
Not much to report on the symptoms front. I still haven't decided if I've relapsed or not. I woke up in the middle of the night with the itch that can't be scratched, but it could have just been that I was sleeping on my left arm. Who knows. Being twilight sleep, you can tell yourself anything and make it out to be true.
I was glad to see that the FDA approved a drug that helps walking. As usual, the side affects suck. But it comes down to a quality of life issue. Most days I can walk just fine so I doubt that there would be any reason for me to go on it yet. There's no price to it yet since that's really up to the insurance companies, but wholesale price is about $1,100 a month. Throw in any of the CRAB treatments and it's $40,000+ a year.
Isn't modern medicine just marvelous.
Being a Summer child, winter always blows. The great thing about volleyball is that the tournaments start amping up in January and end in April. Usually by March though, I was ready to hit the sand. But it got me through. Then there was snowboarding, but I didn't do a lot of it since I moved back from college. Maybe once or twice a season. Now though . . . I still haven't adapted to this new life.
I still have that feeling that every day I work is a day wasted. After a while, they all blend together. I've been working since I was 13 and have never really liked to work. It's not that I'm lazy, it's just that my time is my own. Working for family inflates that belief. I was working, but it was still essentially for myself. The fact that I was transplanted in to "Office Space" certainly helps to exaggerate everything.
Not much to report on the symptoms front. I still haven't decided if I've relapsed or not. I woke up in the middle of the night with the itch that can't be scratched, but it could have just been that I was sleeping on my left arm. Who knows. Being twilight sleep, you can tell yourself anything and make it out to be true.
I was glad to see that the FDA approved a drug that helps walking. As usual, the side affects suck. But it comes down to a quality of life issue. Most days I can walk just fine so I doubt that there would be any reason for me to go on it yet. There's no price to it yet since that's really up to the insurance companies, but wholesale price is about $1,100 a month. Throw in any of the CRAB treatments and it's $40,000+ a year.
Isn't modern medicine just marvelous.
22 January 2010
I'm Still Alive
Yes, I know I haven't written in quite some time. The truth is, I really haven't had anything to write about. No news is good news.
The shots are pretty much the same. I occasionally am late with one. Not to often though.
The muscle spacticity is pretty much the same. Some days are worse than others.
Bladder . . . Well, we can all attest to that. Most of the time, it's a sprint to the bathroom only to have the sensation go away by the time I get there. Then it's a ten minute . . .
I thought I might have had a relapse a few weeks ago. If it was, it was the smallest ever. I couldn't really tell, but the tip of my little finger on my left hand felt tingly. Whenever something happens we automatically think MS.
Still have that same feeling that I am wasting my life away having to work. Some days it's not so much, other's days it's WTF?
I've lost 10 pounds just by eating a little better. I'm sure if I want to get back into my Hugo Boss skinny jeans, I'm going to have to get off my ass and work out again.
I still try and shoot at least once a week. That thrill of being good at something again just didn't come. I had to work to get good at volleyball and then I had to work to stay good at it. After a certain point it's just embroidery. Shooting is the some way. Once I got used to my pistol I was putting the shots in the X Ring and 9 ring. All qualifying rounds. I could shoot more and get a tighter cluster but . . .
In economics there is a theory called Economies of Scale. Basically, it's producing more for less. I compare the Economies of Scale of volleyball to shooting. For an indoor volleyball tourney, $13 for the entrance fee, $20 for food during the tourney and then another $20-$30 afterwards for dinner and alcohol. At the most $63 for 12 hours on a good day.
Shooting: Box of 50 9mm target rounds: $15 or so. Give or take a dollar here and there depending on brand and load. $2 for targets. I usually expend about 120 rounds in about 45 minutes. Have to let the barrel cool off. Grand total about $40 for less than an hour. Olympic target shooter I have no desire to be.
I go back to my neuro on March. Since the last area that was MRI'ed wasn't where I had the relapse, I'm sure I'm due for another when I go back.
No news is good news.
The shots are pretty much the same. I occasionally am late with one. Not to often though.
The muscle spacticity is pretty much the same. Some days are worse than others.
Bladder . . . Well, we can all attest to that. Most of the time, it's a sprint to the bathroom only to have the sensation go away by the time I get there. Then it's a ten minute . . .
I thought I might have had a relapse a few weeks ago. If it was, it was the smallest ever. I couldn't really tell, but the tip of my little finger on my left hand felt tingly. Whenever something happens we automatically think MS.
Still have that same feeling that I am wasting my life away having to work. Some days it's not so much, other's days it's WTF?
I've lost 10 pounds just by eating a little better. I'm sure if I want to get back into my Hugo Boss skinny jeans, I'm going to have to get off my ass and work out again.
I still try and shoot at least once a week. That thrill of being good at something again just didn't come. I had to work to get good at volleyball and then I had to work to stay good at it. After a certain point it's just embroidery. Shooting is the some way. Once I got used to my pistol I was putting the shots in the X Ring and 9 ring. All qualifying rounds. I could shoot more and get a tighter cluster but . . .
In economics there is a theory called Economies of Scale. Basically, it's producing more for less. I compare the Economies of Scale of volleyball to shooting. For an indoor volleyball tourney, $13 for the entrance fee, $20 for food during the tourney and then another $20-$30 afterwards for dinner and alcohol. At the most $63 for 12 hours on a good day.
Shooting: Box of 50 9mm target rounds: $15 or so. Give or take a dollar here and there depending on brand and load. $2 for targets. I usually expend about 120 rounds in about 45 minutes. Have to let the barrel cool off. Grand total about $40 for less than an hour. Olympic target shooter I have no desire to be.
I go back to my neuro on March. Since the last area that was MRI'ed wasn't where I had the relapse, I'm sure I'm due for another when I go back.
No news is good news.
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